Look, I'm not here to sugarcoat this. Service calls in Fort Worth run $175-$300 just to show up - and that's BEFORE we touch a wrench. I've seen homeowners nearly faint when I hand them estimates, but here's the cold hard truth: you're paying for 25 years of knowing which pipe won't flood your house at 2 AM. Water heater replacement? You're looking at $1,800-$4,000 depending on whether you want a standard 50-gallon tank or one of those fancy tankless units (which half the guys installing them don't even understand). Hydro-jetting your main line because tree roots decided to throw a party in your sewer? That's $500-$1,200. Replumbing a bathroom runs $3,000-$8,000. Don't like those numbers? Neither do I, but copper ain't cheap and neither is liability insurance when one mistake floods your neighbor's McMansion.

Here's what happens. Your pipe bursts at 3 AM (they ALWAYS burst at 3 AM or Christmas morning). Water's shooting everywhere. You're panicking. First thing - SHUT OFF YOUR MAIN WATER VALVE. I can't tell you how many times I've rolled up to a house where they've been watching Niagara Falls in their living room for two hours because they didn't know where the shutoff was. Fort Worth's freeze-thaw cycles are brutal on older pipes (especially those rock-hard freezes we get in January). PEX has replaced a lot of copper for good reason - it expands. Emergency calls? You're paying $400-$800 MINIMUM for after-hours service, and that's just to stop the bleeding. The real repair comes later. I've seen burst pipes cause $15,000 in water damage in under four hours (insurance loved that claim). If you've got galvanized pipes from before 1985, they're ticking time bombs. Don't wait for the explosion.

We've got a serious problem in the Metroplex. Labor shortage means every guy with a pickup truck and a pipe wrench calls himself a plumber. I've seen nightmares - and I mean NIGHTMARES. Unlicensed hacks doing $800 slab leaks that turn into $12,000 foundation repairs. Using DANGEROUS CHEMICALS like sulfuric acid drain cleaners that eat through your pipes (then act surprised when you've got a corroded P-trap six months later). Here's what you need: Texas Master Plumber License number. Not a journeyman. Not their cousin who "does plumbing on weekends." A MASTER LICENSE (ask to see it). Insurance certificate. References you can actually call. The guy quoting you $400 for a water heater install? He's gonna flood your attic or cross-connect your hot and cold lines. Cheap ain't cheap when you're paying twice.

Let me tell you about Texas plumbing. We swing from 105°F summers to hard freezes in February (remember 2021? I was working 20-hour days on burst pipes). That expansion and contraction murders your system. Clay soil here shifts like crazy - your slab moves, your pipes move, something's gonna crack. I've pulled tree roots out of main lines that looked like someone planted a garden IN the pipe (those live oaks don't care about your sewer). Summer heat causes pressure buildup in water heaters - your T&P valve should drip occasionally, that's NORMAL. Tankless units work great here but you need a water softener because our water is harder than a brick (calcium buildup will kill that heat exchanger in five years without treatment). And don't get me started on sump pumps in north Fort Worth where the water table's high - you skip maintenance, your basement becomes a swimming pool.

Parts are maybe 30% of your bill. MAYBE. The rest? Knowledge, insurance, licensing, truck maintenance, tools (my van has $40,000 worth of equipment), and the fact that I know which fitting works on 1960s Orangeburg pipe. Drain cleaning: $150-$400 for a cable snake, $500-$1,200 for hydro-jetting (which actually WORKS unlike that cable that just pokes a hole). Repiping a whole house: $4,500-$15,000 (depends on square footage and whether we're going through walls or attics). Slab leak detection and repair: $500-$600 just to FIND it with electronic equipment, then $1,500-$4,000 to jackhammer and fix it. Gas line work runs higher because one mistake means explosion - I charge $800-$2,500 depending on complexity and I don't apologize for it. You want the $200 guy? Hope your life insurance is paid up.

I've seen customers get burned so bad it makes me angry. Here's your defense: Get THREE estimates (not one, not two, THREE). Anyone pressuring you to sign TODAY is running a scam - walk away. Read reviews but ignore the extremes (super happy might be fake, super angry might be crazy). Ask what WARRANTY they offer (I guarantee my work for two years minimum). Get EVERYTHING in writing - scope of work, materials used, timeline, total cost. If they say "we'll know more when we get in there" that's sometimes legit (old houses hide problems) but the estimate should have a maximum not-to-exceed number. Watch for the upsell artists who "find" fifteen problems the minute they walk in. Yeah, your house has issues - every house does - but if they're pushing a $8,000 whole-house repipe when you called about a leaky faucet? Show them the door. And for the love of God, don't hire anyone off Craigslist who won't give you their license number.

Look, I respect a homeowner who wants to learn. Replace a faucet aerator? Go for it. Swap out a toilet flapper? YouTube that thing. Replace a garbage disposal if you're handy? Sure (turn off the breaker first). But here's where you STOP: anything involving gas lines (one spark and you're on the news), main line work (sewage backup ain't fun), water heater replacement (improper venting kills people with carbon monoxide), repiping (one bad joint floods everything), and slab leaks (you'll crack your foundation). I've been called to fix DIY disasters that cost three times what the original job would've cost. Guy tried to replace his own water heater, didn't know about thermal expansion tanks, blew his T&P valve, flooded his garage (that was a fun Tuesday). Another homeowner used Shark-Bite fittings for permanent plumbing inside walls - those are for TEMPORARY repairs, folks. They failed. $6,000 in drywall and water damage. Know your limits. There's no shame in calling a pro - there's only shame in explaining to your insurance company why you thought you could do it yourself.